Star Wars

At its E3 conference, EA has shown us what’s new in a title we’d all managed to forget about: BioWare’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. Its new expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire, is said to bring new ...

Check and checkIf you're making a Star Wars game with pilotable ships, I'm going to want to zip around Hoth in a snowspeeder and tie knots around some AT-ATs. I'll also want to shoot down a bunch of TIE Fighters on my path to destroy the De...

Yeah, I know. Mobile. But even if you have zero interest in the game, at least watch this trailer. Star Wars: Uprising fills story gaps between Return of the Jedi and December's The Force Awakens. Rumors of the Emperor's dea...

Jun 01 //
Alessandro Fillari
For those who aren't familiar, or maybe just a bit confused about what Disney Infinity is, this title brings players into an open world and unified experience to craft unique and original playgrounds for Disney characters from the past and present. Much like the Skylanders series, characters are acquire by purchasing actual figurines that can be uploaded into the game via a world disc, a real world scanner. While you can create levels and unique scenarios and share them with others online, you can also dive into unique playsets centered around specific Disney films and television shows.
In its third year now, Disney Infinity has seen a number of upgrades and additions. With last year's expansion introducing Marvel characters, they've also spent some time upgrading the gameplay and general design. In order to do this, they recruited help from independent developers such as Ninja Theory, Sumo Digital, and United Front Games where they worked on the key areas of combat, racing, and additional character support respectively. With general development handled by Avalanche Software (note: not the same Avalanche behind Just Cause), they've found the creation of Disney Infinity to be a rewarding and satisfying experience.
"The two words that come to mind are 'humbling' and 'gratifying," said the GM of Avalanche Software John Blackburn while reflecting on his work on Disney Infinity. "I feel so fortunate to work with all these brands, and it's a dream come true in a lot of ways[...] I'm pretty happy that people have responded to it in the way that have, and have accepted it and are looking forward to the new versions right now. I want to make sure we're doing a good enough job that we're really trying to make high quality kids and family entertainment, because that's been more and more difficult as a business to do. So it's very gratifying to see that we're doing it right."
With the 3.0 expansion, new environments and characters will be added to the core game, such as the recently announced Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic (based on the prequel trilogy), Rise Against the Empire (original trilogy), The Force Awakens, and also Pixar's Inside Out playsets. While Star Wars will be largely combat and vehicle focused experiences, Inside Out will experiment more with platforming in surreal environments. Much like the film, the gameplay centers around the emotional state of a young girl named Riley and her changing perception and feelings.
Set sometime after the film, players take control of Riley's emotions Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear, when she experiences a nightmare after falling asleep during a scary movie. The playset focuses on platforming gameplay through Riley's dreamscape, where environments and enemies take on a variety of different properties, such as warped gravity and the ground turning into hot lava. Each character has their own unique abilities and skills which will serve them throughout the adventure.
After seeing the movie, I was itching for another trip into the bizarre and evocative world from Inside Out, and the Disney Infinity playset serves a great follow up to the film as it's basically the sequel to the film. Moreover, it fleshes out many of the settings and areas from the film, such as the dream productions studio where Riley's subconscious craft her dreams by way of old school film production. It's a very colorful and imaginative world, and it's likely the most unique playset Disney Infinity has had yet. The devs at Disney Interactive were very excited about what the new playsets can offer.
"Every year a new fan is born," explained the VP of production John Vignocchi. "We're sitting here in the hallowed halls of Pixar, and everyone there will be someone who sees Toy Story for the first time, and we want to make sure that when they pick up Buzz Lightyear, or another favorite character, and when they play with them inside of Infinity, that he is just as cool as he was in the film."
Even though I've only had some minor experience with Disney Infinity, I was quite surprised with the creativity found in these playsets. Perhaps this was coming off of my high after seeing Inside Out a month early, but I was very pleased with the translation from film to game. With the writers and directors from the film working with the devs, along with the same voice cast including Amy Poehler and Bill Hader, they wanted to ensure that it would be as faithful as possible.
It's pretty crazy to see how much Disney Infinity has grown over the years. What was once a strange experiment trying to catch on to the Minecraft and Skylanders craze, has now turned into a title that's really come into its own. It's pretty impressive to see how much detail and content is packed in the title already, and with the new 3.0 expansion hitting this Fall, the Disney universe is about to get a bit bigger for fans to explore.

It's a small world after allWho knew that Disney's strange and bizarre mishmash of characters into one large game would turn out to be such a big hit? I know, a Disney title with a bunch of Pixar, film, and legacy characters would've sold regardless, bu...

One of the bigger disappointments since Star Wars: Battlefront was announced last month was the news that AT-ATs would patrol the map on rails, not fully controllable. If you're still looking for something in Battlefront to s...

Following last week's leak, Disney has come out with full details for Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, which introduces Star Wars to the game/toy platform this fall. For Play Sets, we're looking at:
Star Wars: Twilight of the R...

BioWare writer David Gaider has hinted that he'd "love" to work on another Star Wars RPG.
Though BioWare developed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, there are no Star Wars games ...

And to think, I almost made it the entire day without hearing a "may the fourth be with you" joke. EA is celebrating everyone's favorite non-holiday by releasing a free Star Wars-themed update for The Sims 4. The update ...

In writing about designing the lava-spewing planet Sullest for Star Wars Battlefront, EA DICE let it out that the game will contain 12 multiplayer maps.
"Some of the maps support our epic modes like Walker Assault, while othe...

I am Bread hams a good egg, if you know what I mean. I expect maybe one person to follow my pinballing free association, but I was hanging out with mio cugino da Roma yesterday, and there's your one hint.
Anyways, in the spi...

Star Wars and Disney Infinity, together at last.
As reported by DisKingdom and ComicBook.com, a German retailer listing has pinpointed an August 20, 2015 release for Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars on Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360...

Sony is serving up selection of tantalising treats in this week's PlayStation Store sale. If Star Wars, shooting zombies, and, er, replaying the same missions over and over again are your thing, pay attention.
The Deal of the...

The biggest story last week was Mortal Kombat X's handling of downloadable content. Warner Bros. should relinquish itself of its greed and earthly possessions. That is the first step on the path to Enlightenment.
In this ser...

Striking while the iron's hot, EA's already released the first developer diary for Star Wars Battlefield, which was announced last week. The video's full of the type of information that should make any series fan giddy: DICE...

The official Twitter account for all things Star Wars from EA confirmed today that there will be no space battles in Star Wars Battlefront. When asked "space battles or not" EA responded:
We’re focusing on air battles ...

Apr 17 //
Mike Cosimano[embed]290584:58214:0[/embed]
Star Wars Battlefront (PlayStation 4 [previewed], Xbox One, PC)Developer: DICEPublisher: Electronic ArtsRelease Date: November 17, 2015
During the preview event, we were shown what DICE claims was pre-alpha PlayStation 4 gameplay. It all felt too staged to be a live match, but there was just enough roughness to the visuals that I could maybe buy it. The gametype we were shown was called "Walker Assault," which was not explained in depth but seems to be an asymmetrical mode similar to Battlefield Hardline's "Heist." The Empire has an AT-AT, and the Rebels are activating Uplinks to summon Y-Wing bombers so they can destroy the AT-AT? Maybe? It wasn't explicit, but that's what I took away from both the match & the pre-rendered trailer we were shown. The Endor map also feels too detailed; there's too much going on visually and it feels like the camouflaged Rebels will have an enormous advantage.
The other major thing I took away from the gameplay video was how much it looked like Battlefield, even with the Star Wars trappings. That's not to say it's a re-skin of Battlefield 4 or anything; it's just that the game looks almost exactly like how you'd expect a hypothetical Battlefield Endor game to look, right down to the experience gain. Battlefront gives you a 25 point bonus for a headshot, eh? That sounds familiar. Even the gun sway animation feels like a holdover from the recent Battlefield titles. However, all of that changes in third-person. For me, Star Wars Battlefront has always been a third-person shooter. It looks like players will be able to switch at will between the two modes of play.
Heroes and villains will make a return, as we saw at the end of our demo when Darth Vader showed up and annihilated the player character. Boba Fett will also be playable, because this is a Star Wars thing. There's currently no word as to the rest of the game's roster, but I'd have to imagine some of the new characters from The Force Awakens will make an appearance. If DICE insists on gametypes with limited respawn tickets, a super-powerful character laying waste to an enemy team would certainly reduce average match times.
One thing we didn't see was any specifics how ship-to-ship combat would be implemented. The reveal trailer included footage of dogfights, but I am very concerned by the lack of space combat gameplay being shown. I remember when I realized I could break into the enemy ship and sabotage it from within in the original game. How cool that would be with the 40-player count DICE is citing for Star Wars Battlefront? In fairness, there is a criminal lack of dogfighting in videogames these days in general. At this point I'll take just about anything I can get, especially if the fights are accompanied by that iconic TIE fighter scream.
At the end of the gameplay demo, Battlefront design director Niklas Fegraeus took the stage to discuss some of the more technical aspects of the game. He showed off something called Dolby Atmos 3D, which just amounted to slightly better sound rendering. I bet if you've got a surround sound system or some killer headphones, that'll make you a very happy person. Most of my online gaming happens with the volume off and a podcast on in the background, so an otherwise indistinct difference in sound just didn't grab me.
What I did find interesting was the mandatory part of the conference where the licensor talks about how much they love the licensed product and how faithful they want to be. When it came time for DICE to visit the Lucasfilm archives, they incorporated a technology called Physically Based Rendering -- PBR for short. As Fegraeus put it: "You have a [physical] object, you take a bunch of pictures and then a special software converts it into a digital object." The models we saw looked fantastic, and that level of detail was certainly visible in the demo.
I was also quite taken with the new "partner feature," an option in multiplayer that allows two buddies to form a tag team. In-matches, you will always spawn near each other and you can always see where the other person is on the map. Outside of the match, if one of you is playing and the other comes online, you'll automatically be matched up. As somebody who doesn't make very much use of clans in console shooters, it's possible all of these features have been well-tread already, but to me this implementation felt new and fresh. But the most impressive aspect of this feature for me was the unlock sharing. If you get access to a sick gun before the other member of your tag team, they get access to it as well. This is both a cool way to make sure your team is perpetually strong while making the game accessible to more casual players. It's the best kind of change -- the kind that has no real downside -- and I'd like to see it pop up under a different name in a Call of Duty or Battlefield somewhere down the line.
If competitive multiplayer isn't quite your bag (and if that's the case, why do you care about this game?) there will be missions inspired by battles from the film series that can be played solo or co-op (either online or local). One such mission is a free add-on entitled The Battle of Jakku, and takes place before the events of The Force Awakens, setting up the desert planet seen in both of the film's teaser trailers.
The latest iteration of the Frostbite engine seems well-utilized, but it's somewhat difficult to tell if I was being tricked. Although I firmly believe the match was choreographed to hell and back, the visuals had just enough jank to them that I also believe the game will absolutely look fantastic upon release. Now, will it hit the benchmark set by the demo? Not likely, but we know DICE can make a fine-looking console game.
This is all somewhat irrelevant: how pretty the game will be is not the sticking point here. When you consider just how god damn broken Battlefield 4 was, I was genuinely surprised our demo didn't even nod at that ever-present sting. At time of writing, the DICE panel at Star Wars Celebration has not occurred, so there's a chance the team will still address the wampa in the room. But even if they manage to address it in a way that feels satisfactory, will that be enough to rake in the pre-orders?
I think DICE has a solid core here, partially in thanks to its experience with multiplayer shooters. I've never played a bad Battlefield from a design standpoint (although I'm sure the comments will tell me otherwise), so there's no way I was going into Star Wars Battlefront expecting a mechanical disaster. My apprehension comes from the remaining blank spaces. Will this game be able to pay tribute to its predecessors and the franchise without letting reverence smother progress? And -- more importantly -- will the game work on day one? Neither of these questions can be adequately resolved before copies start getting out, but I think it's reasonable to get your hopes up just a little. As long as we've got space battles, everything will be fine.
...there are space battles, right DICE?

There has been an awakeningI have very fond memories of Star Wars Battlefront. Well into my adolescence, whole summer weekends were lost to split-screen tournaments; when you lost a game, you lost the controller. Familiar Star Wars icono...

I never really ‘got’ Star Wars; to me it seems like a load of old guff in space. Something to do with midi-chlorians killing the younglings and turning them in to coarse sand or something? I don't know, it’s...

DICE's (Battlefield, Mirror's Edge) hotly awaited Star Wars Battlefront is due out holiday 2015, timed to coincide with the start of a new trilogy in the children's film series Star Wars.
Despite us being only nine months awa...

Ooh, ooh! It's been ages since I've last played 2002's Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and even then that was the lesser GameCube version. The Steam release joins Star Wars Starfighter and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II in t...

Amber's back with another month's worth of fun junk from Loot Crate. A lot of cool crap here, guys.
She also had fun taking your feedback from last month's episode and using it to try to improve her style. I think she's doin...

On Sunday, I came closer than I ever have to downloading Republic Commando thanks to its recent debut on GOG.com, but I didn't. After reflecting on my growing backlog, I chickened out.
Now I've got an even more compelling opp...

Through Disney's generous licensing agreement, GOG.com is helping bring Star Wars memories and more back with its second wave of LucasArts game releases. These three great games became available today and for the first 7...

GOG.com released six Star Wars games on Tuesday, including X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, and now the PC game distributor is back with its next set of titles. We're in for a real treat.
Rogue Squadron 3D, Rebellion, and Empire at Wa...

The re-releases of X-Wing and TIE Fighter were lovely, but they were only the start of GOG.com's plans for Star Wars. Today, the DRM-free game distributor added six new titles:
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter + Balance of ...

First, let's remember that Kingdom Hearts 2 did Pirates of the Caribbean and John Depp. And they released games called Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance, so the series is i...

[Update: You guys in the comments are fast! Thanks for the education on the Star Wars Expanded Universe and its long history of lightsaber crossguards. I wonder if that's where Suda got the idea from? I'll ask him next time I...

During an earnings call today, Electronic Arts announced new release windows for a few of its games. Most notably, DICE's Star Wars: Battlefront is now scheduled for holiday 2015.
The game will presumably be out for PC, PS4,...

As if we don't have enough canceled Star Wars games to mourn already, here's a couple more. During a recent Nintendo Voice Chat appearance, Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht opened up about a Rogue Squadron compilation and...

You remember Darth Revan? Well he's back! In DLC form!
BioWare has announced that an upcoming DLC will feature the classic Revan character from KOTOR in The Old Republic. It'll arrive on December 9th, priced at $19....